Don’t Leave

If you do the Twitter thing, follow me at @HousingITguy
or LinkedIn here https://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy


In marketing courses, its nailed home that new customers cost about twenty times as much to acquire, as retaining existing happy ones. Any sales people who forget that, would be better looking for an alternative vocation.

Suppliers who are lucky enough to have their customers engage me to improve their systems and applications, generally have an opportunity to fix problems, before a client just jumps ship, to a perceived better supplier. If you are a bit down in the dumps with your supplier and their performance, its maybe easier to see greener grass elsewhere. However, my advice is not to throw the baby out with the dishwater!

It always baffles me why suppliers often have such terrible account management. A good trusted friend of mine once said that after agonising about the costs of account management, they decided that for the job of retaining satisfied customers, it was a price they had to come to terms with. Poor account management is an open goal to competitors.

I had a funny experience a few months ago, when one supplier went out of their way to give me a great story about how sales were up, all recent implementations were kosher, pigs were fed and all ready to fly. The strange thing was that earlier in the day, another supplier had informed me that they were expanding from one product to a full integrated one in one of their key regional customers, pushing out the current incumbent. Almost certainly the current incumbent knew on that day, but it was a total surprise that notice came to quit. In fairness, we do have our ears to the ground and little escapes us.

So, a great example of account management failure, I am sure you would agree. Something that should never happen if suppliers are well resourced and switched on. Ask yourself, how much love do you receive from account management? Do your suppliers care about your problems and inform you about improvements you can make use of?

Responsive suppliers make better suppliers. Think carefully before terminating those contracts however. If you are considering calling it a day with one of your suppliers, do get in touch. Always happy to facilitate some marriage guidance!

Related Post: Does your ICT team ever deliver anything on time? 

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I would be pleased to connect with you on LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/tonysmiththathousingitguy Message me with any issues or queries, you would like to be explored in this blog. We generally receive a couple of suggestions each month.

Faithless – Don’t Leave.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009


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